Improvement in operating heavy ordnance



4 Sheets-fiheet 1.

J. B. EADS.

Operating Heavy Ordnance. I

- Patented Jan. 12, 1864.

71 1? n esss N.FETERS, PHOTO-LJTHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. n, O

4Sheet-Shet 2.

J. B. EA DSL Operating Heavy Ordnatf'lfce Patented Jan. 12. 1864.

In re n "202' W W N PETERS. FNOTD-LITHOGRAFHER. WKSHINGTON, D. C.

' 4 Sheets-Sheet v J. B. EADS. Operating Heavy Ordnance.

No. 41,206. Patented Jan. 12 1 864.

Vii-2 [217a zn op N.PETERS, FHOTOIJTHOGRAPHER, WASHlNGTON. D. 04

4 SheetsSheet 4.

J. B. EA DS. Operating Heavy Ordnance. No. 41,206. Patented Jun. 12,18652.

Unrrnn Smarts PATENT Ostrich...

JAMns B. EADS, or sr. LOUIS, rssounr.

lNlPROVEMENT IN OPERATING HEAVY ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 111,206, dated January12, 1864.

T0 ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, James B. EADS, of St. Louis, Missouri, have inventeda new and useful Method of Operating Heavy Ordnance;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure No. Irepresents a vertical section of a revolving turret with a platform init, which is made to raise and lower by any mechanical means suitablefor that purpose. platform a gun-carriage is supported and arranged tobe thrust forward and backward. Upon the gun-carriage is mounted a gun,and attached to the carriage and gun is the machinery for directing thegun. On this drawing the gun is seen below deck, and is run out throughthe turretwall, ready for being loaded. On the same drawing is seen atop view of the gun in this position, the turret-wall be ing sectionedto show the thick portion which is above deck and the thin portion thatis be low deck. Fig. No. II represents the gun with its muzzle in theport-hole, ready for being fired at its greatest elevation. The samedrawing represents a top and end view of the gun in this position. Fig.No. III represents the gun with its muzzle in the port-hole, ready forbeing fired at its horizontal or point-blank range. The same drawingrepresents a top and end View of the gun in this position. Fig. N0. IVrepresents the gun with its muzzle in the port-hole, ready for beingfired with its aim depressed. The same drawing represents a top and endview of the gun in this position. The sections of the turret in all thedrawings represent the gun at the side of the aimed and made ready forloading with thesmallest possible amount of manual labor. By myinvention the port-hole can be reduced to the smallest possibledimensions, and thus make those operating the gun much safer from Uponthis' danger, while the diminished amount of manual labor required inmanipulating the gun will greatly lessen the expense attendant on theworking of heavy ordnance.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to de scribe the same, referring to the drawings and the lettersof reference thereon.

Like letters indicate like parts on all of the drawings.

A represents a gun mounted upon a carriage, B, in the usual manner.

0 is the platform upon which the carriage is supported. This platform isactuated by any competent machinery, and raises high enough to obtainthe desired depression in the aim of the gun, and lowers sufficiently toenable the gun to be loaded under deck. The carriage can be movedforward and backward by any suitable machinery on the platform 0.

D represents the porthole. the inside of v which is enlarged toaccommodate the elevation and depression of the breech of the gun.

E represents a lever through which the trunnion of the gun is insertedat its fulcrum.

F represents another lever, which is kept parallel with the lever E bythe connecting rod G, which is secured to the end of E and to the middleof the lever F, and also by the fastening or bracket H, which holds oneend of F, and which fastening is secured to the gun-carriage. The pin inthe bracket H is placed exactly at the same distance from the center ofthe trunnion (that is, the fulcrum of the lever E) that the end of E isheld by the connecting-rod from the middle of F. The lever F is securedat the other end to a pin in the crosshead I. This cross-head moves onthe guide-bars J J, which are placed exactly parallel with the platformupon which the gun-carriage moves, and they are of sufficient length topermit the cross-head to move with the gun-carriage, and theseguide-bars are secured to the roof of the turret. If the four pointsrepresenting the centers of the pins at each end of F, thecenter of thefulcrum of E,

and the axis of the gun where the face of the,

muzzle intersects it be so arranged as to form a rhomboid, and the endof the lever E be connected to the middle of the lever F by aconnecting-rod whose axis is parallel with a line drawn from the centerof the pin in the bracket and the center of the trunnion, the axis ofthe lever E will then be held parallel with the axis of the lever F whenthe platform rises and falls. If the end'of the lever E be placed withits axis exactly parallel with that of the gun, and the end of the levernext to the breech of the gun be made to support that end of the gun,the latter will always have its axis parallel with the lever F; and asthe latter lever has its end secured to the cross-head in theguide-bars, it follows that the muzzle of the gun will always be thesame distance from the pin in the cross-head; and as this pin moves backand forth in a fixed horizontal line, it follows that the muzzle of thegun will always be brought to the same point in the wall of the turretor casemate, whether the breech of the gun be above or below the muz- 1zle. Therefore the gun will only require port-hole large enough to admitthe muzzle to pass into it.

I have now explained the method of keeping the gun so that its muzzlewill always find the same point at the greatest elevation and depressionfor which it is designed to be aimed, and will proceed to explain themethod by which it is restored to a horizontal position when loweredbelow deck for loading. The lever E is made to support the breech of thegun by the short arm 0, which is secured on the cascabel of the gun.This arm 0 is not attached to the lever E, but merely rests upon it bythe preponderance of the breech of the gun. The rod K is secured at itsupper extremity to the slide or cross-head L, which moves 011 theguide-bars N N, (which are secured to the top or roof of the turret,)and is connected to the cross-head I by the rod M. The rod K passesthrough a slot in the arm 0, which admits of its free movement throughit as the breech of the gun rises and falls. On the end of the rod Kis ahead or knob, which prevents the arm 0 from descending below it.Therefore when the platform has been sunk so low as to bring this knobin contact with the arm 0, the breech of the gun is prevented therebyfrom descending lower. If the platform be now lowered still farther, theend of the lever E no longer supports the breech of the gun, butdescends below and leaves it supported by the rod K. If the platformcon- 2 anaoc tinues to descend,,the muzzle of the gun falls, while thebreech remains stationary. v The platform should be arranged to fall lowenough to bring the gun into a horizontal position, and it is then readyto be run out of an opening in the lower wall of the turret and loaded.The rod K can be made telescopic, so as not to be in the way of theplatform in its rising and falling; or it may be of chain or wire rope.The arrangement of levers and guide-bars may be reversed and placedbelow the platform if sufficient depth of turret be had, and thus bewhere they are in less danger of being injured by the enemy.

The rod K may be dispensed with by having a support for thebreech of thegun to rest upon when it descends to the proper point. This support willrest upon the lower part of the turret, or it may be'accomplished byplacing a pulley in the cross-head L, and over this pulley a rope ofwire or a chain may pass, haw ing one end secured to the cascabel of thegun, while the other may be secured to the turret and have aweight totake up the slack of it as the gun rises. The same effect can beaccomplished by having one end of the rope secured to the cascabel andthe other to the carriage or gun at the trunnions,

The lever F may be dispensed with by lowering the guide-bars to receivethe end of the lever E, which should in that case be extended as far aspossible toward the muzzle of the gun, the end of the lever E thusextended bewhich would be made to move in a line horizontal with thecenter of the port.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The use of a lever, E, secured to the gun. and held by a slide orother device at one end in such a manner as to direct the muzzle of thegun to the port-hole while the breech of the gun is raised or lowered.

2. The mechanical devices, substantially as described,-for the purposesbefore mentioned.

JAS. B. EADS.

-Witnesses:

E. COHEN, JULIUs Hrnscn.

lng secured to the pin in the cross-head'l,

